• We are called to “Equip Believers for Effectual, Fervent Prayer and Worship”.
• Our heart is to support and bless local congregations and ministries in our region by covering them in consistent, unified prayer every week.  We’re asking for THEM to see the fruit and the growth, and for all of us to be released as increasingly effective ministers in the harvest.
• The Lord has consumed us with the desire of His heart to see “all those that would believe” come into “perfect unity, so that the world will believe” (John 17:20-26).  We express this through gathering consistently in the corporate place of prayer (Acts 1, 2, & 3).
• We should always prioritize facilitating prayer & worship over simply having a prayer & worship facility.

Just last week, the decision has been made to establish a regional prayer room.  After 16 months of consistent Saturday gatherings, and months more of meeting house-to-house, we’re “going through the gate” and partnering with the Lord to “build up, build up the highways” through prayer, worship, and whatever outreach the Lord motivates us to do out of that place of knowing His heart and His will. The immediate opportunities for you to sow financially are for the rent & utilities, a much needed drum enclosure, sound equipment, video projection equipment, and some clean-up, paint, decor things.  You can send your tax-deductible contributions to: Like David Didc/o The Jacksons1000 Flat Rock DrVan Buren, AR 72956 Or visit our “Partnering” link over on the left hand side of the page to make secure online donations through PayPal.  You do not have to have a PayPal account - all major forms of bank cards are accepted. ”Lord, raise up a generation who is committed to finding Your heart, knowing You, and doing whatever it is You call them to do in the Great Harvest!  Devout Worshipers of God; Valiant Deliverers of Men.  Bring them, Lord!”

Really, there’s no reason to capitalize The Apostolic Prayers, because it’s not like they are their own little book or body of work.  This way of writing it, that even comes-across when speaking the phrase, may be the reason we are asked so often, “What do you mean by ‘Apostolic Prayers’?”  Simply put, apostolic prayers are the prayers prayed by the apostles in the New Testament.  Of course, most of the apostolic prayers are penned by Paul, but there are many more, too.

Now, of course, there has to be exceptions, that make the name not-quite-so-simplistically-accurate.  One of those exceptions is that the prayers of Jesus are often grouped into any compilation of apostolic prayers, too.  Why some, and not all?  Well, the real reason most prayer people use this compiled list of prayers is that they are prayers whose target is the Church.  So, for example, the last part of Jesus’s prayer in John 17, when He prays, “not only for those whom [the Father] has given me, but also for those that will believe,” we like to include those prayers in our reportoire (if you will).

Check out the power in this statement:

When we pray the prayers found in the Bible, for the same people the prayers were being prayed…. WOW!  We can KNOW that we are agreeing with the very prayers of God!  The Holy Spirit inspired these prayers to be written.  And Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father praying for the saints at this very moment.  Why not be assured that the prayers we are praying are directly from God!

So, that’s it in a nutshell.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Per Anthony’s request, here is a link to the compilation that we have adapted from the International House of Prayer - Kansas City for use in our local intercessory worship meetings: Apostolic Prayers.

Okay, so, this is a blog, so I get to be informal and personal, right?  Well, here it goes.  The last several regional prayer gatherings I’ve been missing something.  We’ve been short on singers, so then it feels like I have to sing more, which means I have less time to try and listen to the Lord and feel comfortable with what I’m about to sing.  I’ve also not had clear vision on prayer topics in advance, so I wasn’t able to really come prepared.  And, as usual, we end up with a new mix of musicians every week, and sometimes I’m thinking, “Man, it would nice to rehearse sometime,” but, ya know, we’re pulling people from all over the region, and we’re trying to “be a blessing” not a burden on any of these musicians and singers… but, it’s just difficult to feel like you’re doing things to excellence, when everything is flying by the seat of our pants.

But, each and every week, I am blessed and amazed by the Lord and the way His Body works.  So, yeah, I may not have the songs to sing one week, but, Paul Howell does; Thank you, Lord!  I don’t have to be the one who can keep everything flowing and always has the song when someone else doesn’t.  I may not have the prayer topic, but the people in the room show up with things on their heart, and Matthew McSpadden leads us like a seasoned veteran.  And, the musicians, wow, the Lord has really blessed us with guys and gals who can just show up and flow.  Sure there’s other things we could do if we rehearsed, but, man, these folks are good.

Wouldn’t it be nice if our congregations worked this way, too?  Where one man didn’t have to have THE WORD every Sunday.  (Don’t get me wrong, praise God for gifted teachers and preachers - Lord, give them Your Word every week.)  But, wow, how nice would it be to be in a congregation that really worked together like the Body Jesus intended.  A place where a pastor could really be a pastor and take care of, and go get, people and pull them together to see them fed, sheltered, and taken care of.  They wouldn’t have to also try to be the teacher, the evangelist, the prophet, and the apostle.

Or where the administrator isn’t getting knocked for not being merciful enough, and the intercessor isn’t getting bashed for not being evangelistic enough…

Lord, mature Your bride.  Call us to, and equip us for, the exact place you have for us in Your Body.  Let us not think more highly of ourselves or our callings than we ought, and give the hidden parts even greater honor.  Thank you, Father, that none of us need to be “self-contained”, because You have connected us, and made us inner-dependent with one another - Your Church, Your Bride, Your Body.  Amen!

As I was praying and singing through Jeremiah 17 last week, the Lord really highlighted the part about the need for our roots to “spread out”, and the context in which that happens.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

If you’re from the Fort Smith river valley region, you’ve probably heard a commercial from a local “turf care” company talking about the best way to build a strong, healthy lawn.  They recommend that you totally soak your yard with like 2 inches of water, and then don’t water it again for quite a while.  This forces the grass to send its roots down deeper, as it stretches forth to keep trying to get at that last bit of water from the previous soaking, since above the ground it is getting totally baked by the heat.  Now, I didn’t just take a seriously major bunny-trail because I’m excited about the proliferation of lawn-care techniques: there’s a spiritual principle here.

Graciously, the Lord will absolutely SOAK US from time-to-time.  Also by His grace and wisdom, He will withdraw Himself and allow the heat to be turned up… He’ll allow the drought to come and linger.  That is the only way for us to “Go Deeper”.  If we’re constantly getting a little watering, our roots will never go very deep, and we will never be very stable or very durable.  We see it hear in Jeremiah, we see it in the Song of Solomon, chapters 3 and 5.  He lavishes, and then leaves.  Sometimes we pursue and find Him quickly; sometimes He’s nowhere to be found - or so it seems.  But, in those times, will we keep stretching out towards Him - the Living Water?

During these prayer times the Lord spoke to me, “I am about to answer their prayers to go deeper.  The roots go deeper when the heat comes.  The heat is coming.  Oh how I long for their roots to go deeper and spread out towards me.  Stand and pray for them, that they would endure the heat.  Make your own fruit, that I have given you by my Spirit, available to help sustain and encourage others when they falter.  Keep your leaves green, by making sure you, too, are stretching deeper, so that you can help shade the weary from the heat.  A shaking is coming; The heat is coming - before that all consuming fire, and before that all consuming shaking, because I desire that none should perish, but be strengthened with might, by My empowering grace.”

Join us as we pray for the strengthening, equipping, and edification of the Bride of Christ in the river valley.

This gathering is a part of our regular Saturday “intercessory worship” rotation in the Fort Smith river valley region.  On most Saturdays of the month, people from many different congregations and denominations come together for a “Harp & Bowl” -type meeting.  In these meetings, we use a model very similar to that used by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, that helps assure that each prayer is either 100% directly from Scripture, or very contextually accurate.  The number one focus is to glorify and exalt Jesus - who is the Word - that became flesh, and dwelled among us (John 1).  Expect the paradox of some of the most free and intense worship you’ll ever join in with (Lord willing), while remaining Biblically accurate and in order.

I hope to stand alongside you this weekend.

Here’s the current schedule:

First Saturday of Every Month
Pray River Valley
Crossroads Church
250 Rudy Rd, Alma, AR 72921
Intercessory Worship
6pm to 9pm

Second Saturday of Every Month
(Currently Open)

Third Saturday of Every Month
Pray River Valley
Heritage Church
1604 Pointer Trail, Van Buren, AR 72956
Intercessory Worship
6pm to 9pm

Fourth Saturday of Every Month
The Burn - Fort Smith
Location & Time: TBA
Psalmist/Prophetic Prayer as Worship

First Saturday of Every Month
Crossroads Church, Alma, Arkansas
6pm to 9pm - Intercessory Worship (Harp & Bowl type) Gathering
3:30pm to 5:30pm - Harp & Bowl Training (by RSVP please)

Second Saturday of Every Month
(Several people in the area have been feeling like we need to do something similar to the original “Second Saturday” that area youth pastors did back in 97-99.) - mainly more of a focus on corporate worship and a fresh, relevant “now Word of the Lord” for the region.

Third Saturday of Every Month
Heritage Church, Van Buren, Arkansas
6pm to 9pm - Intercessory Worship (Harp & Bowl type) Gathering
3:30pm to 5:30pm - Harp & Bowl Training (by RSVP please)

Fourth Saturday of Every Month
“The Burn - Fort Smith”
Location & Times TBA Each Month
Our hearts and hands are connected with Robin Curry and the group from The Burn - Fort Smith, and so we join them on the Fourth Saturday of Every Month as they run with their God-given mandate for prophetic, psalmist worship and prayer in various locations all around the region.

We look forward to praying and worshipping with you soon!

First off - HIS WORD!  What a great time we had on Sunday, April 27th.  I got to lead worship for a group of about 80 1st thru 6th graders as they led the congregation at Heritage Church in Van Buren, Arkansas in worship and in reciting 26 verses from memory (A to Z).  The excitement in me when I hear children speaking scripture, especially scripture committed to memory is unbelievable.

I went straight from there to the Van Buren courthouse where about 100 believers from all over Crawford County gathered to “read the Bible in an hour.”  Slips of paper were distributed that contained chunks of scripture for each person (or family) to read aloud.  All of the slips were picked-up, and the Word of God was proclaimed aloud IN ITS ENTIRETY from about 2pm to 3pm.  Surely His Word will not return void, but accomplish that which it was sent forth to do.

A youth pastor in the area approached me about getting the “Apostolic Prayers” that we use during a lot of our intercessory worship (harp and bowl type) prayer gatherings for use with his youth group that night, and I hear that they spent a good portion of their youth service that night praying and reading scripture aloud, too.  I LOVE IT!!!  His Word is going forth all over county!

Then, this last weekend, Robin and I invited some friends of our in to hang-out and do some ministry with us.  Doug & Rita Roberts brought some incredible authorative teachings and prophetic words to many individuals and to our region this weekend.  We are continually blessed by their revelation of the true Body of Christ, how we should function in-and-through Kingdom relationships, and what in means to “be in Christ”.

Our last Pray River Valley meeting turned more into “Preach River Valley” (haha), but “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” and the Lord had a lot of incredibly important and meaninful things to say over the church in the river valley.  Doug shared a solemn word about “the abortion of the fathers” in our region, and how the Lord is wanting spiritual fathers to step-up in our region, and that we should be calling out more for the fathers to arise then for just the Bride to awaken and arise.  He described a picture the Lord was showing him over our region: a spider web.  That this is how the church was functioning at the moment… more like spiders building webs and trying to capture as many people as possible - but how spiderwebs are all about one thing: “feeding the spider”.  And if competing spiders get onto each others’ webs, only the strongest spider will survive.  Unfortunately, that is not spiritual strength or maturity prevailing, because this whole organization and scenario is a soulish one, and not a spiritual one.  What the church is SUPPOSE to be about is feeding and strengthening all of the individuals who gather - not capturing them to “feeding the spider”.

A group came down from the House of Prayer in Siloam Springs, Arkansas and prayed and worshipped with us.  What a faithful group: WE LOVE YOU!  One of the brothers shared a wonderful picture that the Lord was giving him that was both for Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley.  (Our recording stuff wasn’t online, so I’ve asked him to write it down for me, so I don’t mess it up… so I’ll put that up later.)  Thank you, so much, Lord, that Your house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, and that You join together those who heart is turned to You through prayer, and that no competition will ever arise or persist in this beautiful expression of Your body.  Let us be a picture of unity for Your Bride.

Gals and Guys!  The Lord is SOooOOoo pleased with the faithfulness He is finding in Arkansas.  He looks to-and-fro for a man who will stand in the gap for his land.  He is finding them in Arkansas, and will hear our cries, leave a blessing instead of a calamity, heal our land, and cause His light to break forth like the dawn!  Thank you, Lord!

2   I sleep, but my heart is awake;
  It is the voice of my beloved!
   He knocks, saying,
   “Open for me, my sister, my love,
     My dove, my perfect one;”

We see in Chapter 2, that the last time the Beloved groom asked the shulamite to come away with Him to go and bound over the obstacles and establishments of the world that she did not go because she was afraid.  But then she realized her mistake and went running after Him and ran with Him.  This time she has a different excuse:

3   I have taken off my robe;
   How can I put it on again?
      I have washed my feet;
    How can I defile them?

This is the main part the Lord opened up to me.  What does her/our robe and washed-feet signify? I believe one application of His living and active Word here is this: 

The robe represents the white garments He gave us that we like to wear when we’re out among the world - but, too often when we’re at home and comfortable, we strip back down to our filthy rags.  Then, it’s too much trouble to have to “put the face on” again to go back out with people - and, honestly, most of us don’t really want to go out in the first place.

Then there’s the washed feet.  If being comfortable and a bit dirty isn’t a good enough excuse, let’s approach it from another angle.  Well, I’m already too clean to go back out where it’s dirty.  I’ve set myself apart from the world, and have been progressing from glory to glory… why would I risk being tempted, or getting sick (physically, spiritually, anything)?  We’re suppose to be set apart, right?  Let the lost come to our church buildings… surely they can see our steeples, right?  I will not defile myself again.

I could also see both of these things as being subtle enticements… the bride was trying to encourage intimacy with the groom, hoping that they could just stay in the place of intimacy, and not go out into the world.

The Groom is calling His Bride out! 

But let me be clear: you will have nothing to give of eternal value if you do not spend time and invest yourself into getting to know the Lord, His heart, His mind, His affections, in that intimate place of prayer and worship.  But, just like in the Song of Songs, there are cycles of spending personal, one-on-one time with our Groom, there’s times of just doting over one another (giving and receiving affections), but then there are those times of going WITH the Groom to show-off your relationship and to tell everyone about The Messiah, your Groom.

The world WANTS to know our Lord, but they’ve seen too much of us, and now they’re full of reserve, doubt, even hatred, and cynicism regarding our Groom.

The Daughters of Jerusalem

9   What is your beloved
       More than another beloved,
     O fairest among women?
  What is your beloved
     More than another beloved,
      That you so charge us?

Now the Bride could have went arm-in-arm with her Beloved to show Him to the world and draw people to Him… but, even though she missed that opportunity, she still went, and now she still evangelizes: 

The Shulamite

10   My beloved is white and ruddy,
    Chief among ten thousand.
16   His mouth is most sweet,
   Yes, he is altogether lovely.
     This is my beloved,
      And this is my friend,
    O daughters of Jerusalem!

Lord, help us to never lose the reality of the great commission, but help Your church regain and rightly walk-in the reality of the greatest commandment - that we would genuinely love You with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength.

Watchmen, intercessors, worshippers, Mary’s - share Your beloved with the world.

Evangelists, teachers, pastors, preachers, Martha’s - make the greatest commandment more important than the great commission (or at least equal).

I pray that you and your family were rocked by the realities of this past Holy Week… the Lord drew me back into Isaiah 53 for about 3 weeks leading up to Easter, and would hardly let me sing or think about anything else in my personal devotion times – What a paradox-paradigm in which we have to live and breath and find our being: that He was ‘a man of sorrow and familiar with sufferings’, and was also ‘anointed with the oil of gladness more than his companions’…. and that WE are to ‘fellowship in his sufferings’, yet be filled with ‘joy unspeakable’… This is something that the Lord is going to do this year in the place of prayer all over this region.

He is going to teach us how to fellowship in His sufferings and to come together solemn, with fasting and weeping, crying out and condemning… AND (not BUT)… AND still He will ‘make us joyful in his house of prayer’.

I invite you to join with people from all over the region at The Burn this Saturday at Living Way Four Square Church on Hwy 71 S, just south of Ft Smith. It will be from Noon until Midnight. Come to the Burn ready for personal prayer and devotion, and/or to enter into agreement with the prayers being sang over our region in an environment that we believe is much like it was in the tabernacle that David built when he appointed the singers and musicians to minister before the Lord day-and-night.

Here’s a reminder of our consistent Saturday rotation (that we’re simply refering to as “Pray River Valley” — just so that when I have time to work on our regional prayer website, the domain name will be the same as what we call it (www.prayrivervalley.com)).

First Saturday of Every Month
Crossroads Church
250 Rudy Rd, Alma, AR
Prayer Gathering: 6pm - 9pm (drop-in)
Intercessory Worship Training Classes: 3:30 - 5:30pm (RSVP to me, please)

Third Saturday of Every Month
Heritage Church
1604 Pointer Trail, Van Buren, AR
Prayer Gathering: 6pm - 9pm (drop-in)
Intercessory Worship Training Classes: 3:30 - 5:30pm (RSVP to me, please)

Fourth Saturday of Every Month
The Burn - Fort Smith
(locations and times will vary)

There are also many prayer meetings going on in congregations all around the area. Get plugged into yours, and be sure to visit others. I believe the Lord is going to use the prayer movement in a mighty way to establish unity in the Body of Christ… go connect with someone. Personally, my wife and I are praying, worshipping, and doing devotionals every Monday - Thursday at Heritage Church in Van Buren from 11am to 1pm.  Drop in anytime… sometimes musicians are playing and singer live, and sometimes we’ve got worship playing (like the IHOP Webstream) and we’re praying or doing devotionals — come on in!

Manifest Blessings!